Blog Dedication

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Oh Marketers, Your Motives Are Showing (and you shine).

I wanted to create something that reflects what we value about this medium--and it's just not fair that posts get all the play when the comments have so many insights, and so much heart. Remember way back before Labor Day when I polled you guys? Of course you don't, a lot has happened since then. All the better...surprising you was part of my evil-genius plan.

I asked you one question. A BIG one: What is the single greatest point of value you receive from blogging? I sought the single, the uber, the most rewarding, robust and important point of value you receive from embracing these tools and investing your time.

The question centered on value because everything we do stems from there. Take choices: what we choose to do with our careers, which candidate we vote for, whom we choose to be our friends and how we choose to spend our time all rest in value. Same thing with motives: we're motivated and driven by those things and thoughts that hold the most value for us. So value isn't just a telling factor, it's the tell-tale factor.

With a bevy of wide-ranging results in hand I was going to make a video. But then everyone's comments flew by too fast for a 2-minute piece. So I was going to do a podcast...but having all your comments in my voice killed the whole point. It needed to be visual. Truth be told, I really wanted a mural. But where to find the wall? Plus, I can't paint for the life of me.

Most of all, it needed to depict everyone's individual contributions and then show how a lot of individual voices make for a larger, dynamic and far more powerful conversation. After all, that's what the blogosphere is, right?

So I settled on a collage (PDF here). A compilation of why--above all else--we invest the thought, time and trouble to blog. Look at what it reflects. Then look at what it doesn't. (psst: what's not on it is just as important as what is.)

While I could only fit the keywords on the collage, full comments from each participant are listed on pages 2-5 of the document. Take ten minutes and read through them sometime. You'll likely draw the same conclusion as I but come up with different observations--yet another point of value we gain through blogging, eh?

» CK does a Darmano from Servant of Chaos
When I first came across David Armano and his now famous blog, I was struck by the way he was able to tap into ideas circulating around the blogosphere and turn them into strong visuals. Not only that, he would [Read More]

Tracked on Wednesday, November 08, 2006 at 07:15 PM

» Marketers: What Value Do You Receive From Blogging? from Rothacker Reviews
To move forward CK from CK's Blog asks fellow marketers: What is the single greatest point of value you receive from blogging? CK then collected all of the comments and created a Marketer's Collage in PDF. Needless to say and [Read More]

Tracked on Thursday, November 09, 2006 at 06:30 PM

» Why do bloggers blog? from Greg Verdino's Marketing Blog
A while back, marketing consultant CK asked a bunch of fellow bloggers a BIG question: What is the single greatest point of value you receive from blogging? Even though I was a relatively new kid on the block, she gave me an opportunity to chime in. Sh... [Read More]

Tracked on Thursday, November 09, 2006 at 10:53 PM

» Weekend - to blog or not to blog? from Soaring on Ridgelift
When I started writing this blog I noticed that its readership stats have a pronounced weekly pattern - fewer readers on the weekend than during the week. Hardly profound, you can see this pattern in a lot of blogs. Some [Read More]

» The Value of Blogging from Leading Questions
You are reading a blog, so you must find some value in it. I'm writing a blog and I do find great value in doing it. CK at Ck's blog did a bit of polling of bloggers to find out [Read More]

Tracked on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 at 07:43 PM

» Why Blog??? from Personal Insights on Web 2.0, Blogging, and Business
Ive covered this subject a little bit before, but this is seriously VERY cool! A collage of great reasons to blog (you can download the PDF here). Go show this to the execs in your companyhelp all of us bloggers evangelize blogging!
I mu... [Read More]

Tracked on Thursday, November 16, 2006 at 01:07 AM

» What's the value in blogging? from Results Revolution - Getting Real Marketing Results for Small Business
Thanks to Jackie Huba for sharing this terrific Why to Blog document written by CK. She describes her project on her blog, saying:I asked you one question. A BIG one: What is the single greatest point of value you receive [Read More]

Tracked on Thursday, November 16, 2006 at 10:44 AM

» Why Blog? from The Bamboo Project Blog
We've been talking here lately about helping nonprofits to see the value in blogs. Fortunately, CK has come to the rescue with the results of her recent reader poll asking What is the single greatest point of value you receive [Read More]

Tracked on Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 07:00 PM

» Value of Blogging from The Medical Blog Network
It has been a while since I have specifically talked about the role of blogs in your marketing plan. Given that I have been working with Dmitriy Kruglyak, Toby Bloomberg, and Fard Johnmar on the upcoming Healthcare Blogging Summit, my own attention [Read More]

Tracked on Sunday, November 19, 2006 at 06:34 PM

» Value of Blogging from Driving In Traffic
It has been a while since I have specifically talked about the role of blogs in your marketing plan. Given that I have been working with Dmitriy Kruglyak, Toby Bloomberg, and Fard Johnmar on the upcoming Healthcare Blogging Summit, my own attention ha... [Read More]

Tracked on Sunday, November 19, 2006 at 06:50 PM

Comments

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For a long time now, I've been wanting to craft a special post on the value of comments, for I feel that comments are where the real wisdom is to be found, rather than in my posts.

I work extremely hard, with a broken back and a severely messed up neck from computer abuse, to write relevant, enlightening posts on topics I know and care about.

But I am always astonished at how readers will add a comment that challenges my beliefs, enhances the conversation, or questions an aspect of a problem I had not thought of yet.

I understand that many blog readers skip comments, they think the important meat is in the post. WRONG.

The real action and insight is in the reactions, the comments, the responses a post receives. Even random, drive-by comments, from people I never hear from again, are valuable, often even more valuable than comments from loyal contributors.

Even more vital are the lurkers. As much as I believe in blog conversations, the unresponsive lurkers are key to our success. They may not post any comments, for a wide variety of very good reasons, but they may promote our thoughts and insights in other channels, offline or in other forums where maybe they feel more comfortable expressing themselves. Lurkers provide exo-blog support and also traffic numbers to our blogs.

Lurkers may do more for us than even our most ecstatic and gushing fans.

But still, we need to let people know that comments contain gold, a rare and pure form of feedback that really makes or breaks a lot of blogs.

When comments are merely supportive and non-challenging, it makes it look like the blog is a cul-de-sac, a clique, a private mutual admiration society.

But when comments are provoking, harsh, abrasive, dissent, discontented, unconvinced, these are precious diamonds, feedback that helps us grow and expand in unexpected directions.

Your idea of a collage of what is the single most important value we get from the discipline of blogging...what a Seth Godin-esque Purple Cow Free Prize Inside!

CK, you 'rock the house' because you raise the creative and quality standards for all of us,and show what's possible when you love what you do, and you do what you love. This is brilliant! Thanks for including me in your marketing universe.

CK,
Excellent "collage" (as you name it), brilliant idea, I really appreciate it a lot.

Making a good summary is a difficult thing. Turning it into an attractive visual is even more complicated. Your pdf has it all: summary front page, content (what a nice panel!) and definitely great looking graphic style.

Not to mention, as many already did... it's going to be a great tool to help convince skeptical minds! Thank you.

A clickable blog sidebar button is what everything needs. I spend way too much time creating blog buttons, that take users to web sites or pages that I wish to promote.

I'm astonished at how many companies, web services, and various software products simply do not have clickable buttons. I prefer it when there are several different styles, colors, sizes, and text to choose from, to add to your blog sidebar or web site.

All: I'm so pleased that the collage has been so well received. It really was a treat doing something for the community--and a record of what moves us all to keep the conversation and good thinking going.

And I'm fortunate that the project has brought new introductions, to boot.

I'm a relative blogging newbie - just this September if was a "first time bloggah from Boston") - and there's nothing unique about why I love it. I love the community, the tips, the ideas, the thinking things through, the creative outlet, the back-and-forth. As a long-time marketing practitioner, I love the thought of younger marketers learning from my experience - and I also love learning about new-fangled things that just didn't exist when I started out. (The only downside is how involving it can be just grazing around in the blogosphere. There's so much good and interesting "stuff".)

It looks like I made a discovery today and its name is CK - I'll add to the love and mention I really enjoyed your post here and quite timely given that I just reached my own century club of posting at Buzz Canuck. Let me add to the conversation - I blog to "Create Tipping Points - to tap the force of the amazing blogger-to-blogger, peer-to-peer influence grapevine where 1+1 truly does equal 3 and thus, become another instrument in the social media orchestra" (oK maybe over the top but your PDF got me in the mood) Might see you at WOMMA in December.

The power of graphics to communicate ideas is huge. At http://tutormentor.blogspot.com you can see how I communicate ideas of network building. In the Program Locator and Tutor/Mentor Institute I use maps to illustrate where volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs are needed in Chicago, along with charts that illustrate the diversity of volunteers, and number of years, that are needed to help a youth reach a career.

I'm not an artists by any means, thus, in my networking I'm constantly looking for illustrators who want to apply their talent to helping us communicate ideas to a larger public. Thanks for the inspiration.

results in hand I was going to make a video. But then everyone's comments flew by too fast for a 2-minute piece. So I was going to do a podcast...but having all your comments in my voice killed the whole point. It needed to be visual. Truth be told, I really wanted